EDITOR'S TABLE. 



415 



judgments. It accnstorns the mind 

 to ask, in regard to any proposition 

 or statement, " What is the evidence 

 for this ? " It accustoms the mind 

 also to a condition of suspense in re- 

 gard to questions which there are 

 not sufficient data for deciding. This 

 condition of suspense is precisely 

 what untrained minds find it most 

 difficult to endure. We have lately 

 had experience of this on an im- 

 mense scale in this country. When 

 the explosion occurred by which the 

 Maine was destroyed, how few were 

 willing to await the result of ex- 

 pert investigation before arriving at 

 a conclusion consonant with their 

 own feelings on the subject! It is 

 not uncommon to find people who 

 show irritation if you express a doubt 

 whether some statement they have 

 read in the papers, and happen to be 

 interested in, is well-founded. Be- 

 lief is of the nature of an emotion, 

 the indulgence of which is to the 

 mass of mankind a pleasure. The 

 student of science early learns that 

 the emotion is one which requires 

 control, and gradually he or she 

 forms the habit of making reason- 

 able verification a necessary condi- 

 tion of belief. 



Another great advantage that sci- 

 ence possesses, especially in relation 

 to the female sex, lies in its imper- 

 sonal character. In other spheres of 

 activity personal leadership counts 

 for much; but in the study of sci- 

 ence, while individual teachers may 

 exert a powerful stimulating influ- 

 ence, they do not impose their opin- 

 ions. In all scientific work the one 

 " ever-fixed mark " is truth, the proved 

 conformity of fact with hypothesis. 

 How interesting soever the views of 

 this or that eminent pi'ofessor may 

 be, they must at all times svibmit to 

 this test; and the humblest student 

 may at any moment shatter by an 

 experiment or an observation the 

 most brilliant generalization of the 



most renowned speculator. We do 

 not know of any lesson that can be 

 more usefullj' taught in girls' schools 

 than this — that truth is above all, 

 and that truth depends, not upon 

 any form of personal authority, but 

 vipon the direct revelations of Nature 

 to those who interrogate her aright. 

 This does not involve any depreci- 

 ation of personal influence, which 

 must always remain a powerful fac- 

 tor in the government of human life ; 

 it simply gives the mind a wider 

 outlook upon the world, enabling it 

 to pierce beyond opinion to some- 

 thing greater and more enduring 

 than opinion, the ever-unfolding re- 

 ality of things. 



" Our little systems have their day. 

 They have their day and cease to be." 



This utterance of a great poet is at 

 one with the teachings of science; 

 but what it is well to remember is 

 that, as system after system fails, 

 truth shines forth with ever clearer 

 radiance and more benignant grace: 

 it does not sink in their fall, but es- 

 capes to assume better forms and 

 confer still higher blessings on hu- 

 man kind. 



We are in sympathy with what 

 our contributor says as to the desir- 

 ability of supplementing the careful 

 teaching of one or two sciences with 

 general views, intelligently imj^arted, 

 of all other leading branches of sci- 

 ence. She recommends for special 

 study in girls' schools physiology as 

 a necessary subject, and either bota- 

 ny or zoology. We should like to put 

 in a word for astronomy on account 

 of the strong appeal it makes to the 

 imagination, and the opportunity it 

 affords for bringing into use what- 

 ever the pupils may have learned in 

 the way of mathematics. Another 

 reason may be found in its extremely 

 interesting history. No young per- 

 son should leave a school claiming 

 to give a solid education without 

 having learned something of the 



